Our History

Alfred Music’s history began in New York City’s Tin Pan Alley in 1922, when Sam Manus, a violinist and importer of mood music for silent films, started a music publishing company and named it Manus Music. The company published primarily popular sheet music. In 1930, Sam acquired the music publisher, Alfred & Company, founded by Alfred Haase. Sam decided to combine the names and shortened it to Alfred Music, which the company is still known as today.

Sam’s son, Morty began working for Alfred Music in the late 1940s and met his wife Iris at the company when the bookkeeper, Rose Kopelman, brought her daughter to work one day.

Morty reinvented Alfred Music in the 1950s. Inspired by the need for quality music education products, Morty, a clarinetist and pianist, oversaw the development of an instructional series for accordion, followed by books for guitar, piano, and recorder. Alfred Music was now more than just a sheet music publisher; the company was taking its first steps to becoming the leader in music education.

Alfred Music grew significantly over the next two decades and eventually exceeded the capacity of its New York headquarters. In 1975, the main office was relocated to Los Angeles, and the distribution center was moved to upstate New York. Sharing their father’s vision, Morty’s sons, Ron and Steve joined the company; Ron in 1988 and Steve in 1992. While continuing to develop the world’s leading instructional methods and performance music, they also expanded Alfred Music internationally, establishing offices in Australia, Germany, Singapore, and the UK. In 2005, Alfred Music purchased Warner Bros. Publications, acquiring the rights to the EMI Catalogue Partnership and beginning a long-term relationship with Warner/Chappell Music. Through this deal, Alfred Music gained the print publishing rights of legendary publishers such as M. Witmark & Sons, Remick Music Corp., and T.B. Harms, Inc. Among the vast EMI holdings are the Robbins and Leo Feist catalogs, plus film music from United Artists, MGM, and 20th Century Fox including The Wizard of Oz, Singin’ in the Rain, Doctor Zhivago, and many others.

Alfred Music currently has over 150,000 active titles and represents a wide range of well-known publications—from methods like Alfred’s Basic Guitar, Alfred’s Basic Piano Library, Premier Piano Course, Sound Innovations, and Suzuki, to artists like Bruce Springsteen, Bruno Mars, Cole Porter, Carrie Underwood, Garth Brooks, Jimmy Buffett, George and Ira Gershwin, John Lennon, Katy Perry, Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, and The Who, to brands like Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, The Wizard of Oz, Rolling Stone magazine, and Billboard.

Alfred Music is now also paired with MakeMusic, which is part of Peaksware Holdings, LLC portfolio of companies, to transform how music is composed, published, taught, learned, and performed by bringing together the leaders in educational music publishing and music technology.